Beer/bird news

In our occasional series of beer/bird news, today we have items from Eagle, Kereru and Croucher.

Christchurch’s Eagle Brewing has renamed and rebranded from Golden Eagle Brewing. Owner David Gaughan says 'Golden’ was confusing customers – some thought it referred to golden beer styles, others confused the name with other Golden breweries.

The new Eagle Brewing labels are can be spotted in bars and bottle stores right now. Everything else is business as usual from Eagle’s Riccarton Road eyrie.

Kereru Brewing put its weight behind the kereru wood pigeon in the recent Bird of the Year competition. Run by Forest & Bird, the competition asked Kiwis to vote choose between the kereru and 51 other native birds. Proceeds from Kereru beers sold at five Wellington venues were donated to Forest & Bird and punters were encouraged to vote for the kereru in the competition.

Unfortunately sanity did not prevail and when the Bird of the Year competition was announced last night the kereru was trumped by the godwit, which is a bit unfair when the godwit buggers off to Siberia every winter Siberia, while the kereru might never leave sight of its favourite berry tree. Better luck next time kereru and Kereru.

And Rotorua’s Croucher Brewing is supporting New Zealand’s national bird the kiwi. It has brewed a limited release Croucher North Island Brown, “a 4.3% brown ale with a dose of fruity hops”. A portion of all sales is donated to Rotorua’s Rainbow Springs Kiwi Encounter, which raises kiwi chicks for release back into the wild.

Croucher North Island Brown is available for national release now – look out for it and be nice to kiwi chicks.